In New Super Mario Bros. there are eighty levels, thus there are 240 Star Coins to find in the game. Each Star Coin adds 1,000 points to the player's game score.

They also appear in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In this game, there are 231 Star Coins. Three Star Coins appear in each of the game's seventy-seven levels much like New Super Mario Bros. Also, collecting one adds 4,000 points to the player's total score, instead of 1,000 like in its predecessor.

Star Coins appear again in New Super Mario Bros. 2. In this game, there are 219 Star Coins in total and they have similar uses to the Star Coins featured in New Super Mario Bros.. In World Star, Moon Coins appear instead.

One use is for opening Star Coin Signs leading to Toad Houses or bonus letter levels (e.g. 1-A or 5-B). There are 32 of these signs in the game, each requiring 5 Star Coins to open. After Mario opens the signs, he has an option to save, allowing him to easily save his progress without completing an uncompleted tower or castle before completing the game.

Another use is for buying new backgrounds. After completing the game at least once, a blue Toad House will appear north of level 1-1. There are 5 bonus backgrounds for the Touch Screen that cost 20 Star Coins each. The 5th background can be unlocked by opening every Toad House.

Once all 240 Star Coins have been collected, a 2nd star will appear next to the save file. There will also be a message on the Touch Screen next to the Star Coin symbol reading "Complete".

Spending all the Star Coins not only unlocks the final Touch Screen background, but also leaves a message next to the Star Coin symbol on the top screen in the world map reading "All Spent".

If the player defeats the final boss after collecting the Star Coins in every world, none of the pictures shown in the end credits will say "NEW".

Another use is collecting all Star Coins in a world so a level in World 9 (unlocked after beating final boss) is unlocked. It will be the level number corresponding to the world number (e.g. collecting the Star Coins in World 1 will unlock 9-1).

The final use for a Star Coin is to cause a star to be displayed on the File Select Screen. If the player collects all twenty-four Star Coins in World 9, he or she will earn a star.

Star Coins once again appear in New Super Mario Bros. U. Their purpose is the same as in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where collecting all the Star Coins in each world unlocks a level in Superstar Road. There are in total 246 Star Coins in the game.[2]

Star Coins appear in Mario Golf: World Tour and can be used to unlock new courses and playable characters. Players can earn them by clearing Star Coin challenges. In those challenges where Star Coins are on holes, when selecting the shot path, the Star Coins spin faster if the ball's paths will intersect with them.

In New Super Mario Bros., if the player grabs a Star Coin surrounded by Coins, the Star Coin sound will cancel out the Coin sound and will mute the sound of any other Coins for a few seconds. This also occurs when the Star Coin's collect sound is played; grabbing any Coins when the Star Coin's collect sound plays will cause the collect sound of a Star Coin to cancel out the Coin sound effect.